Londonís high-speed rail project is helping to drive an office-building boom on the City of Londonís western edge as investors rejuvenate aging sites like Smithfield Market near future transport hubs.

Henderson Global Investors Ltd. is transforming Smithfield, a meatpacking center for centuries, into a sleek office block while a state-of-the-art Crossrail station is built at Farringdon about a minuteís walk north. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Axa SA (CS) and Land Securities Group Plc (LAND) also own properties on the western fringe of the financial district.

The areaís developers are benefiting as technology, media and telecommunications companies seek new and refurbished buildings, according to Clive Castle, a Henderson director who manages the firmís commercial real estate in London. ďThatís helped to compensate for the weakness of demand from the banking and financial sector,Ē he said.

Crossrail, Europeís largest construction project, costing an estimated 15 billion pounds ($23 billion), will cut commuting times by as much as half, enticing tenants to rent offices in once-overlooked corners of the City. Plans for buildings from Farringdon through Smithfield to the Thameslink overland rail station to the south represent the Cityís biggest development pipeline since 2011, when a cluster of towers went up near the Lloyds of London insurance building, said Peter Rees, the Cityís planning officer.

Amazon.com Move

Axa has already benefited from demand for space by technology companies. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) earlier this year agreed to lease a property built by the French insurerís real estate unit less than a five-minute walk from Farringdon Station. Employment in central Londonís technology, media and telecommunications industries will rise to 306,000 through this year, from 259,000 in 2007, according to a June forecast by Dmitriy Gruzinov, an economist at Oxford Economics.

Rents for the best buildings south of Farringdon are now about 47.50 pounds a square foot, up from 42.50 pounds last year, according to an estimate in July by broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. That compares with the 95 pounds paid in Londonís West End and 55 pounds in the center of the City, the broker said in a May report.

Itís not just low rents that are attracting technology companies. Farringdon and the adjacent Clerkenwell area are considered a trendy neighborhood, with design studios, artistsí workshops and galleries as well as clubs, bars and restaurants, including celebrity chef Fergus Hendersonís nose-to-tail eatery, St. John, at Smithfield.

The London property market "has completely lost touch with reality". That is the view of Henry Pryor, a buying agent for wealthy househunters whose claim to fame is that he predicted the peak of the market in 2007.

Referring to one upmarket estate agency chain, he added: "Savills' results tell you everything you need to know about the state of the housing market." Sales in Kensington, Mayfair and other sought-after London postcodes have sent Savills' profits soaring as it reported average sale price rose 18% to £3.2m. Profits are up 40% to £26m in six months.

The figures underscored the gap between London's luxury property market and the rest of the country, where its average selling price of £1m was down 9% from a year ago. The number of sales in Savills' "prime" London heartland was up 5%, while transactions fell in the rest of the country.

A recent report by Fathom Consulting said the prime London market was more overvalued now than at any time since 1995 at the latest.

Fathom said the three factors boosting prices are the weakness of the pound, making London attractive to foreign buyers; the performance of global equity markets, which are a proxy for people's wealth; and buying into London as a "safe haven" Ė a hedge against the troubled euro.

Nine Elms "The greatest transformational story at the heart of the world's greatest city"

Nine Elms on the South Bank is the £15 billion ($25bn) opportunity area between Lambeth Bridge and Chelsea Bridge which includes Vauxhall town centre, the new US Embassy, New Covent Garden Market and Battersea Power Station. It is one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe and the most significant development area in London.

Prime Ministers of UK and Malaysia break ground at Battersea Power Station redevelopment

The British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister Najib Razak were joined by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London; Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, President of S P Setia and Chairman of the shareholders’ consortium; Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Bakke Salleh, President of Sime Darby; Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan, Chief Executive Officer of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Rob Tincknell CEO of Battersea Power Station Development Company.The consortium behind the redevelopment comprises S P Setia, Sime Darby and EPF with the redevelopment of the 39 acre site being undertaken by British-based Battersea Power Station Development Company. The consortium bring with them in-depth experience of delivering large mixed-use redevelopments like Rafael ViŮoly’s masterplan for the Power Station site, a strong and loyal customer support base and the deep financial resources necessary to ensure the successful execution of this iconic project.Work has now officially begun on constructing the masterplan, which will see this former industrial site become home to a vibrant new neighbourhood.

Construction work on the £8 billion ($12bn) Battersea Power Station redevelopment started in the past week. The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, Malaysia and the Mayor of London:

The project will include 3,400 new homes and 330,000m≤ of office space: